Among the mythical dive bars of Buenos Aires is San Telmo’s enduring Bar Británico.

The corner bar facing Parque Lezama first opened in 1928 as ‘La Cosechera’ (The Harvester). From the beginning it was a gathering place for English World War I veterans and railroad workers who lived in the area.

It wasn’t long before ‘Bar Británico’ became an obvious name for this Anglo-Saxon meeting place and in the 1930’s the name was changed to reflect the predominate clientele of the era.

Bar Británico is a famous San Telmo bar/coffehouse that was featured in the film, Motorcycle Diaries.

The ‘Tres Gallegos’

Bar Británico really earned its reputation as the iconic corner cafe of Parque Lezama beginning in 1959 when it was taken over by three Galician immigrants, Pepe Miñones, José Trillo and Manolo Pose. The three humorous Gallegos as they are collectively called, would remain for the next four and a half decades.

From the beginning the three cultivated an atmosphere welcoming writers looking for a place to scribble and smoke for hours on end and intellectuals who played epic games of chess. Writer, Ernesto Sábato was said to write part of his 1961 novel, ‘Sobre Héroes y Tumbas’ (‘On Heroes and Tombs’) at his pocked wood table by the window.

During the Malvinas/Falkland War, the first three letters of the bar’s name were camouflaged to alter the name to the much less controversial — if nonsensical — ‘Bar Tánico.’ The sign stayed that way for years until the anti-English sentiment faded and the three letters were once again uncovered on the awning outside.

In 1998 Británico was one of the first bars elected for its cultural significance as a ‘notable bar’ by the Buenos Aires’ city government.

The Eviction

In 2006 the existence of Bar Británico was threatened, stirring up a controversy of typical porteño proportion. The three Galicians were evicted after the owner of the building died and his son, Juan Pablo Benvenuto, decided the place could be fixed up to fetch a higher rent.

The community was outraged –- the Galicians had rented the bar from the same family for decades without a formal contract –- but it was true that the bar hadn’t been reformed since the 1950’s. The floor was missing tiles, the bathrooms were a disaster, and decades worth of dust covered the copious amount of knick-knacks around the bar.

Neighbors held protests, collected signatures, started protest blogs and facebook groups to save the bar and the livelihood of the three Galicians who had watched many of them grow up.

Enough signatures were collected that the city’s Culture Secretary intervened to see if the building’s owner could come to an agreement with Miñones, Trillo and Pose. The three, at this point elderly gentlemen who shuffled across the floor to take orders thanks only to the force of will, said that if they had to go they at least wanted to pass the bar on to people within their inner circle, including one waiter who had worked there for 25 years.

Thanks to the building’s listing as one of the city’s ‘historic heritage site’ and the cafe’s ‘bar notable’ status the owner was impeded from changing the character of the interior but the three Spaniards had no legal recourse to remain as the bar’s owner-operators and were forced to retire.

The Británico of Today

Six months after the ousting of the Galicians, Bar Británico was reopened under new management, who purchase the rights to continue using the same name.

New visitors probably won’t miss the Británico of old –- you can still sit at a sidewalk table and watch the people coming and going from Parque Lezama, or park at a window seat and nurture Porteño neurosis with one coffee after another. The menu and the food are admittedly as uninventive and average as ever.

Británico’s new owner, Agustín Souza refurbished the original wood bar, replaced the plumbing, electricity and floor tiles. The coffee is the same –- Souza buys the same brand as the former owners. The prices are certainly higher, but there’s no telling if that’s solely due to wacky inflation or a concerted effort to capitalize on the foreign tourists coming by to see one of the locations for the film ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ and get whiff the Buenos Aires’ of yesteryear.

Some neighbors still maintain the attitude of scorned lovers toward Británico — they say it was once ‘their place’ and now they don’t belong — the grumpy decrepit charm is gone, they can’t even stop by to use the bathroom like the always did and without the grandfatherly Galicians, the very soul of Británico has been sucked away.

Sentimentality aside, Británico lives on, and former customers can hope that after 45 years of tending bar, the Tres Gallegos are enjoying their involuntary retirement.

Souza, an inexperienced bar owner, concedes that he has very big shoes to fill. “It is a lot of work. There were three of them and I’m only one person,” he says.

He initially kept the bar open 24 hours a day, save Tuesday mornings, restoring Brtitánico’s former reputation as the night owl’s old San Telmo standby. Today it usually closes in the early morning, around 3:00 a.m.

“ We don’t have as much business at night but there is definitely a steady stream of people — there are journalists, painters, and taxi drivers — pretty much people from all walks of life.”

Do you remember the cafe La Poesía, that magic night in San Telmo? Buenos Aires devised our meeting, so romantic and sweet, Lulú —Horacio Ferrer (from the song, Lulú)

La Poesía is a place to toast the writers of Buenos Aires in a bona fide San Telmo literary venue.

Housed in a turn of the 19th century building, the cafe preserves the traditional tiled floor and dark wood bar. The shelves are lined with books and artifacts and an upstairs wall is packed with black and white portraits of some of Buenos Aires’ notable artists and literary figures.

Originally founded in 1982 by journalist and poet, Rubén Derlis, La Poesía became a place for the artists and thinkers of San Telmo to contemplate democracy after the end of Argentina’s military dictatorship. Here well-known musicians and writers congregated for discussion and critique and held workshops such as ‘Poesía Lunfarda’ (Lunfardo Poetry).

The bar closed in 1988 but was never forgotten by the 1960’s-era socialist writers and San Telmo intellectuals who gathered there. The wooden tables have embedded brass plaques noting the literary heavy weights whom wrote or held court at these tables in the 1980’s.

It was here that the Uruguayan poet and lyricist, Horacio Ferrer, mostly known for his work with Astor Piazzolla, met the woman who remains his wife to this day, Lucía Micheli. The meeting is immortalized in his 1992 song, Lulú.

In the two decades since the closing of La Poesía, one failed business after another occupied the locale. Finally La Poesía was reopened at the end of 2008 by Pablo Durán and Laura Carro, the husband and wife team who run three other successful classic corner bars in the city: El Federal a few blocks away in San Telmo, El Margot in Boedo, and Bar de Cao in San Cristóbal . All four of the dynamic duo’s historic bars are categorized as ‘notable cafes’ by the city of Buenos Aires.

La Poesia’s Menu

The only thing that could use some updating here is the menu — it’s comprehensive but lacking in creativity. You’ll find the standard pastas, uninspired salads, a large selection of sandwiches, hamburgers and omelets. The picadas, (cheese and meat platters are a good bet) — try the Rubén Derlis platter, a selection of the poet’s favorites, along with a pint of the full-bodied handcrafted red beer, brewed on the premises (there is also microbrew ‘rubia’, or blonde beer, or ‘negra‘ — dark beer).

From afternoon to night La Poesía is busy with couples sipping the excellent Malbec, writers becoming inspired via osmosis and groups of friends debating in an array of languages.

On the weekends the few tables along the sidewalk allow for good people watching while you sip a cappuccino or beer brewed on-site.

These days, La Poesía hosts many more tourists than it did in the 80’s, but it remains a meeting place for Porteños.

Hang around long enough and you’re liable to spot some of the original La Poesía habitués, such as Horacio Ferrer and Ruben Derlis.

Mark’s Deli and Coffee House brings a taste of the Big Apple to the upscale confines of Palermo Soho. Here you’ll find stacked made-to-order deli sandwiches on home-baked breads, an interesting variety of salads and specialty coffee drinks being dished out to a constant flow of cash splashing Palermo elite and guidebook-toting foreigners.

The refreshing selection of bread at Mark’s includes normally scarce options such as whole wheat and rye and cheese or black olive baguettes.

Two particularly tasty sandwiches, made with the customer’s choice of bread, are the pastrami, cucumber, pickles, lettuce and Dijon mustard and the grilled chicken, made with apples, pancetta and blue cheese. All sandwiches can be toasted to warm things up in the winter months.

The healthier options at Mark’s Deli are the fresh salads. The most exquisite is the fresh Special Salad: smoked salmon, Brie and arugula. Both sandwiches and salads are large; true to American style, the notion of a snack doesn’t exist at Mark’s Deli.

To wash it all down try the homemade lemonade or fresh fruit smoothies, the kiwi is a particularly flavorful. Specialty coffee drinks include the Iced Mocha, or for something with a little more guts, the Absolut Vanilla Coffee.

New York Cheesecake & Other Desserts

A large teatime and dessert menu includes muffins, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and baked tarts. The best on the menu though is the cheesecake. The texture is as thick as you would find in New York and the biscuit base is not too sweet. A zesty fruit coulis finishes off the order and as with everything at Mark’s Deli, the portion is large enough to share.

The U.S.-style business model is so well emulated here that one might suspect that Mark’s Deli is a foreign-owned enterprise, but it is the brainchild of Argentine, Marcos Mantecón who brazenly opened up the cafe in 2002, shortly after Argentina’s devastating economic crisis.

Mantecón’s idea proved to be an immediate success, especially among the growing number of foreigners in the area. Today, waiting for 20 minutes to be seated at Mark’s is not uncommon, particularly between 2pm and 5pm on the weekends. This considering that there are twelve tables inside, a breakfast bar and an outside patio area, accommodating another five tables.

One drawback for the near-sited is that there is no menu that you can hold in your hand here — you’ll have to crane your neck from your table in order to read the menu options, written on two blackboards above the service counter. Another is that the quality of the services varies more than the food.

Although Mark’s may seem on the pricey side for residents (and only accepts cash) the deli is fresh, the portions are generous and in straight-forward New York style, there’s no service charge.

A postal themed cafe and pastry shop a stone’s throw from the tombs of Recoleta cemetery, Post•Data is so twee and wonderfully decorated that Hansel and Gretel are probably regular customers. Pretty stamps form the stripes on the wallpaper, old postcards and letters dangle from the ceiling as mobiles and vivid colors glisten on the desserts in the pastry case. The chatty staff are clearly passionate about their workplace and happily offer samplers and recommendations.

The timing of the opening of Post•Data at the end of 2009 was brave. It was the beginning of a sticky summer that saw most city-dwellers flee to the sea, with swine flu and economic problems affecting tourism and the willingness of locals to part with their pesos. But today, thanks to word of mouth in lieu of advertising, the cafe is steadily building a loyal clientele.

The postcard shaped menu has an extensive list deli style options; bagels, wraps, sandwiches and salads, each named after a global destination. Two of the menu’s best dishes are the York; roast beef, caramelized onion, pickle and mayonnaise and the Copenhagen; smoked salmon, herby cream cheese, sun dried tomatoes and arugula. Those in search of bagels will be pleased with the variety here: Parmesan, sun dried tomato, poppy seed, onion, sesame seed, vegetarian, wholegrain, garlic and last (and probably least), plain. To wash it all down try the juices made with hard-to-find fruits brought in from Colombia including mango, passion fruit, soursop and mulberry.

As good as the main dishes are, only a militant dieter would bypass dessert here. The pastries, mousses, macaroons, cookies, cakes and crumbles are hard to resist, some are topped with gravity defying whipped marshmallow frosting whilst others ooze the thick, caramel-like local specialty, dulce de leche. Continuing the international theme, Post•Data also offer Argentine interpretations of Belgian chocolates, American cupcakes and even fortune cookies.

At Post•Data, it is the little touches that add charm, such as the hand-crafted British red telephone boxes in which you receive your bill and the ‘postal packaging’ for the take away goodies. A post office themed café in Recoleta may seem like just a quaint gathering place for the elderly senoras of the neighborhood, but with the attentive service and delicious homemade snacks, Post•Data delivers on its motto of ‘a sweet message’.

Italian coffee culture has spread throughout the world in the last twenty years or so, replacing the previously ubiquitous instant coffee and watery percolator fare with macchiatos and café lattes, but thanks to the country’s Italian immigrants, Argentines have long enjoyed Italian-style coffee — albeit with a few local twists.

Mate may be the official national beverage, but coffee drinking is a refined, lingering art in Argentina’s cafes. While well-prepared, coffee’s central position in Argentine life doesn’t mean that aficionados traditionally consider it among the world’s best though — in an average corner dinner the coffee is made with robusta coffee beans, while connoisseurs consider the arabica bean to be superior.

Giant multinational coffee chain, Starbucks bulldozed its way into the Argentine market in 2008 raising the quality bar for coffee beans and bringing with them the concept of ‘coffee to go.’ After the novelty has worn off, the phenomenon seems to be sticking. Starbucks now has dozens of stores throughout the country and by all appearances is aggressively seeking to dominate the market.

But unlike in the US thirty years ago, when Starbucks made its move out of Seattle, Argentina is already spoiled for choice when it comes to rich, decent-quality coffee prepared by competent barristas.

Aside from the countless neighborhood and downtown Buenos Aires cafés, whose coffee quality can vary from middling to excellent, there are also some local chains such as Aroma, Havanna and The Coffee Store, which offer well-roasted arabica coffee and delicious snacks. In recent years gourmet coffee has arrived to Buenos Aires. Popular among coffee connoisseurs are Full City Cafe in Palermo, which has a delicious Colombian dark roast, and Coffeetown, located inside the San Telmo market.

A charming aspect of frittering away a morning over a cup of joe in traditional Argentine style is that it is almost always served with a glass of seltzer and couple of cookies.

Here is a guide to the most common cups of coffee that you can order in most Argentine cafes. Select with care — you will be judged:

• Café (a shot of espresso/short black)

“Café chico!”

If you ask for nothing more than a coffee, “un café,” without specifying details, you will be brought the basic short black in a small espresso cup. To be sure there’s no misunderstanding, you can say, “un café chico” and give the nationally recognized hand symbol when ordering (see image). For those who like life in the fast lane. It’s quick, strong, and it will certainly perk you up for a few hours.

• Café en jarrito

The same espresso coffee as above, but in a mini-mug. Still smaller than a regular coffee cup. This is basically a double espresso, so don’t expect to sleep for approximately three days after drinking one.

“Cortado – chop chop!”

• Cortado (macchiato)

The most commonly ordered style in Argentina, this is an espresso which has been “cut” with a little milk, to take the edge off the bitterness. You can also ask for it in a jarrito, as above. Only when you’ve sat in a café and sipped on a cortado can you say that you have truly visited Argentina.

• Café con crema

The same as a cortado, but with a dollop of cream instead of milk. A nice dessert coffee. If you’re a tightwad, check the price first, as sometimes they will add an extra charge for the cream.

• Lagrima

For the lightweights who can’t handle a cortado, a lagrima is the inversion of the formula; an espresso cup filled with milk and just a touch, or ‘drop’ of coffee.

• Americano

This is like the bigger, weakling brother of the regular café chico. Hot water is added to a shot or two of espresso to dilute the strength a little. We don’t really see the point of this one.

• Café con leche (café latte/flat white)

A regular sized coffee cup half filled with coffee and half with milk. You can vary the dosage by saying “mas leche que café” (more milk than coffee). You could ask for more coffee than milk if you wanted too, but that would be a little bit crazy.

The classic cafe con leche

• Capuchino (Cappuccino)

This is a slight variation on the Italian blockbuster. It depends on the café you are in, but the Argentine cappuccino will usually come in a slender transparent glass, with clearly visible layers of coffee, milk and froth, topped with a little cinnamon or chocolate. Unlike in Italy, they won’t laugh at you if you order it in the afternoon or evening.

• Submarino (submarine)

OK, it’s not coffee, but it is very Argentine. Served in the same transparent glass as a cappuccino. This time the glass is filled with warm, frothy milk, into which a piece of chocolate is submerged. The chocolate melts and creates a sweet, creamy treat. Mmm… delicious! A drink for the softy in all of us.

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